During a field trip to the south-west part of South Korea, I witnessed a traditional Korean mock wedding at the Naju Mahan Festival. They set up the mock wedding to show tourists like me how a traditional wedding ceremony should look. The stage was filled with traditional costumes, chestnuts, and chickens!
Before the wedding ceremony, pairs of wooden Mandarin duck carvings called wedding ducks are given as wedding gifts and used in the ceremony. The wedding ducks symbolize the groom and bride. They respresent peace, fidelity, and plentiful offspring.
During the Korean wedding ceremony, the bride and groom wear traditional hanbok (한복), a traditional Korean dress specially designed for the ceremony. In North Korea, hanbok is referred to as Choson-ot (조선옷). Up until 100 years ago, the hanbok was the Korean daily attire! Hanbok represents thousands of years of tradition and is usually made of a lightweight material with bright colors, simple lines, and no pockets. During the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1897) Dynasties, the different styles of hanbok worn indicated a person's social status. Today, hanbok is considered formal wear worn only on special occasions.
